PTC: Cable Choice Will Give Parents True Control Over TV Content

LOS ANGELES (July 27, 2006) – The
Parents Television Council™ joined today with
Congressmen Dan Lipinski (D-IL) and Tom Osborne
(R-NE) to support providing families with cable
choice, the ability to take and pay for only the
cable channels they want and called on the cable
industry to support this plan. The following are
excerpts from a speech given at a press conference
today by L. Brent Bozell, president of the PTC™.

"Everyone knows that entertainment
television is rapidly becoming a trash dump of
indecency and in recent years this has become an
issue of national concern. Day after day and night
after night, families are assaulted by graphic
violence and murder; explicit sexual situations,
even including depictions of brutal rape, incest,
pedophilia, and the like; and filthy gutter language
until recently never heard on television.

"This year, Congress finally acted to
increase the fines against those broadcasters who
violate broadcast decency law. The broadcast
airwaves are owned by the public, and community
standards of decency must be protected. But cable
is a different matter altogether, and another
solution to the problem must be found.

"There are three possible solutions
to the cable indecency issue. The first is to give
FCC the same oversight powers over cable as it has
on broadcast television, but this idea is going to
face philosophical and practical challenges.
Second, there is the notion of family tiers, but
what has been offered by the cable industry thus far
is wholly unacceptable and is a product designed to
fail. What the cable networks have put on the table
as their idea of ‘family tiers' is pathetic and
everybody knows it. Moreover, with the problem of
cable indecency reaching the epidemic level it has,
the cable industry is in no position to define for
families what a ‘family tier' is.

"Parents must be given real control
over the programming that enters their homes via
cable and satellite. Families must be given the
right to pick, choose, and pay for only the channels
they want to receive. Thus the third option—Cable
Choice—is the best solution. I commend Congressman
Lipinski and Congressman Osborne for siding with the
overriding sentiment of American families and
introducing this legislation that holds the promise
of giving families real choices in cable television
programming.

"Earlier today the entertainment
industry unveiled a publicity campaign designed to
absolve itself of all responsibility for the raw
sewage it pumps into America's living rooms night
after night. Their $300 million dollar publicity
stunt seeks to ‘empower parents' and give parents
‘complete control' over their televisions.

"Let me be very, very clear in my
remarks. First, it is not parents who are
responsible for the raunch that's on television. It
is the television industry. Rather than spending
hundreds of millions of dollars telling parents what
to do, the industry should rethink this shameful
publicity stunt and instead apply itself to cleaning
up the mess it has created. Second, if the industry
really wants to give parents ‘complete control' over
their televisions, then let the industry step
forward today and endorse the one solution that will
give parents that control: Cable Choice.

"The entertainment industry can't
have it both ways. If the entertainment industry
really cares about giving parents ‘complete control'
over their television sets then they must and will
support Cable Choice. If the television industry
opposes Cable Choice, then their call for ‘parental
control' is exposed as a farce. Cable Choice is the
one solution that will truly empower the consumer,
free of any government regulation, to decide what he
or she wants in his or her home. It is a solution
that is being endorsed by Republicans and Democrats,
conservatives and liberals, alike.

"The entertainment industry has been
maintaining for years it was up to parents to take a
greater responsibility. This is the ultimate in
parental control.

"It is time, high time, that the
cable industry stopped forcing consumers to
subsidize its raunch. It is time for Cable Choice,
and if the industry really cares about parental
responsibility, it's time for the entertainment
industry to put up or shut up."

The Parents Television Council™ (www.parentstv.org®) is a non-partisan education organization advocating responsible entertainment. It was founded in 1995 to ensure that children are not constantly assaulted by sex, violence
and profanity on television and in other media. This national
grassroots organization has over one million members across the
United States, and works with television producers, broadcasters,
networks and sponsors in an effort to stem the flow of harmful and
negative messages targeted to children. The PTC also works with
elected and appointed government officials to enforce broadcast
decency standards. Most importantly, the PTC produces critical
research and publications documenting the dramatic increase in sex,
violence and profanity in entertainment. This information is
provided free of charge so parents can make informed viewing choices
for their own families.

Parents Television Council,
www.parentstv.org, PTC,
Clean Up TV Now, Because our children are watching, The
nation's most influential advocacy organization, Protecting
children against sex, violence and profanity in
entertainment, Parents Television Council Seal of Approval,
and Family Guide to Prime Time Television
are trademarks of the Parents Television Council.